Dream Unchained (18 page)
Authors: Kate Douglas
“How'd they get in with the tractor, pull so much fencing out? It's going to be hard to protect an opening that wide.”
“They used a diversion,” Ralph said. “These boys weren't familiar with dirty tricks. They are now.” He laughed. “They made the bastard pay for that piece of fence, though.”
“How?” Dink turned to Bane.
“We disassembled and a few of us swarmed the one driving the tractor. We got him inside and out. He was so busy swatting bugs he thought were crawling on him, and reacting to the sensual rush inside, that he totally freaked out.” Bane grinned at the other Nyrians. “We were just discussing trying a similar approach with the ones who are armed.”
Dink directed Nick to film Bane. “Where does a Nyrian get a totally human phrase like
freaked out?
” he asked. “And when you say
sensual rush,
what are you referring to?”
freaked out?
” he asked. “And when you say
sensual rush,
what are you referring to?”
Jesat nudged Bane. “We could show him?”
“Not now.” Bane laughed. Obviously, the man was thoroughly enjoying himself.
Dink waited while Nick kept the camera on the Nyrians. “Language, first. How do you know our slang?”
Jesat shrugged. “The same way we know any of your language, or how to behave in your society, how to care for our human bodies. How to be human. We take information from the minds of those around us. In essence, we are all a combination of a lot of bits and pieces of information from the humans we've been near, but those insights blend with our individual personalities.” He shrugged. “We do have our own distinct personalities. Take Bane, for instance.”
“Yes,” Aza said, nudging Jesat. “Please, take Bane.”
Dink laughed. Jesat just shook his head. “See what I mean? Bane has always been bossy, and Aza's just a smartass. No matter how much we absorb from other humans, our basic nature is still who and what we are.”
“Exactly,” Bane said. “I will always take charge, and Aza will do his best to screw things up. We are who we are.”
Aza jabbed him in the ribs with his elbow. “You will pay for that, you realize?”
Bane merely threw his arm around Aza's shoulders, emphasizing their friendship and everything Jesat had said. Dink had the feeling these guys had shared the same conversation before, no matter their physical form.
“Okay,” he said. “That makes perfect sense. I think. Now explain what you meant by going inside the . . .” He paused, frowning. Should he call them terrorists? Is that what Bartholomew Roberts's army was? “I guess I would call the guy driving the tractor a domestic terrorist. What did you do to him?”
The others deferred to the big blond Nyrian this time. Dake. Another gorgeous guy. Dink hoped Nick got the camera on him in time to catch him rolling his eyes. “Nothing bad,” he said. “At least we didn't hurt him. I disassembled and went inside him, in much the same way we heal from within. However, I went directly to the pleasure center in his brain and the erogenous zones of his body.”
“And how does that affect someone?”
“Well . . .” Dake glanced at Bane and sort of checked him out. “I wouldn't complain if he chose to give me the same experience. Imagine your body reacting to sexual stimulation that affected all your erogenous zonesâboth mental and physicalâat once.”
“While at the same time, Ankar, Jesat, and I were buzzing around on his skin, inside his clothing.” Aza steepled his fingers, laughing softly. “He had little bugs crawling all over his body with concentrations on his nipples, testicles, and penis, while Dake was doing the same thing from the inside.”
Dink bit back a grin. He really needed to keep this on a professional level, but the visual Aza was painting didn't help. “How did he react?”
Nick slowly panned the five Nyrians as they looked at one another and grinned. Dink figured the women were going to love this shot. Women and any men with the same sexual predilection as Dink. Five self-assured, cocky, drop-dead gorgeous guys discussing how they'd sexually stimulated a man inside and out. Dink was hard as a rock inside his jeans, his cock pressing against the zipper so fiercely that the pleasure verged on pain. Not very professional, but totally unavoidable . . . and enjoyable.
“He, uh . . .” Dake finally grinned directly into the camera, and, as if he were a professor addressing a classroom, said, “He experienced a profound sexual event which affected his attention and caused him to drive off the edge of the trail into a gully. He was not injured, but his vehicle will never be the same.”
“Or his dick.” Aza doubled over, laughing. Bane merely sighed and thumped him on the head.
Then he turned to Dink, totally ignoring the camera aimed at him. “What's happening with the rescue?” He wiped sweat off his forehead, and if Dink hadn't known better, he would have tagged him as just another security guard. A very large, good-looking security guard. “Have they recovered the rest of the soulstones? Are Nattoch and the others safe yet?”
“Not yet.” Dink checked his watch. It was almost five thirty. “They left around twenty minutes ago, a bit later than planned, but when the most recent group got away from the ship, one of them arrived badly injured.”
“Who was it?” Aza's jokester attitude disappeared entirely.
“A guy named Xinot. He'd taken human form when a Gar guard targeted him. He didn't think the weapon could hurt him in that form, but he was wrong, and he was shot during their escape. That changed a lot of the team's plans, since it means the weapons that can neutralize your energy field can also damage human flesh, plus the Gar are aware now that something's going on. Whatever plan Finn and the others had will have to be adjusted accordingly. They did say it might take them longer, knowing that the Gar have weapons that can stop them, but they're smart and determined.”
Aza wrapped his fingers around Dink's wrist. “Is Xinot okay? We are good friends.” He glanced at Bane. “He's Bane's brother.”
Dink looked at Bane. The man hadn't said a word, but he nodded at Aza. “I'm in contact with him now,” Bane said. “He was injured but he's healing.”
“I forget how well you guys can communicate,” Dink said. “Don't worry. He's fine. Niah healed his injuries, and Liz has taken him with her to rest at her cabin.”
Aza nodded and wrapped an arm around Bane's shoulders. “Niah is one of our best healers. We don't need to worry about him if she's the one to repair his injuries. I'm glad she was there.”
“What about these jerks?” Ralph waved a hand toward the battered fence. “We can't continue to hold them. There aren't enough of us.”
Dink wished he had an answer for the guy. “Ralph, I just don't know. Mac had your wife take the Nyrians who arrived earlier into the safe room beneath the lodge. They've got plenty of food down there and the place is fireproof. I think the main thing, for now, is to try and hold these guys off until the rescue is complete. You and your guards are armed.”
He grinned at the Nyrians. “You guys don't need guns. After the rescue, who knows? Mac's in touch with people at the Pentagon as well as the Department of Defense. I think they'll come around, once they have all the facts.”
“I'm glad Mac thought to have the women take shelter,” Ralph said. “I was there when he had it built. That thing's a totally reinforced bomb shelter. They'll be safe in there, and Meg's like a mother hen when she's got someone to watch over.”
“Well, she's got a room full of totally stressed-out Nyrian women and four guys who just escaped from the Gar. I think they've had all they can take for now.”
Bane agreed. “It's been especially difficult for our women. They're brave and willing to fight to protect those they love, but we've all been beaten down for so long. It's hard to remember what we're fighting for.”
“Your freedom, Bane.” Dink stood but with the camera still running. “In just a very short time, this should all be over, and you and yours will be free.”
Nodding slowly, he tilted his chin and gazed up at Dink. “I hope you're right. My only fear is that we will trade one captor for another.” He turned his head and looked in the direction of the small army waiting on the hillside below. “What if the people of your world are more like them?” Then he smiled. “We're all hoping they're like Mac, like you and the others in the dream team. Like Ralph and Meg. You don't see us as aliens. You don't fear us. You've shown us nothing but kindness.” His smile was sad and somewhat pensive. “It's been a long time since we've known kindness, since we've had any chance at freedom. Please forgive us if we find it difficult to trust until we know for sure that freedom is ours to hold.”
Â
Duran held up his hand. Finn pressed close against the wall, running his fingers over the slick surface. It felt cool, though not quite as cold as the air around them. Duran hadn't been kidding when he'd told them to wear warm clothes.
There was no sense of air movement, at least not at this level. He couldn't even guess what it was like in the upper, more populated levels of the ship. He was vaguely aware of soundâa distant rumble that was all around them, and could only be the engines that were powered by the Nyrians. He wondered if that sound would stop when they left the engine room.
When the ship began to die.
He just hoped he was off it when that happened. Hoped all of themâand the soulstonesâwere far away when the thing imploded. Probably not a good idea to think of that now. He knew the Gar were horrible, that they'd killed and would kill again, but the idea of wiping out an entire civilization bothered him on a level he couldn't define. He'd damned well better get over it.
Finn studied the part of the ship where they'd paused. The overhead was softly illuminated, more than sufficient to light their way. The surface under their feet was rough, which meant his boots didn't slide at all, but he still wasn't sure what the interior of the ship was made of. At first he'd assumed it was some kind of metal, but it felt almost like plastic. He'd love to take a piece of it home with him and stick it under a microscope.
Hell, here they were on an alien spaceship and no one was getting samples of anything. At least Rodie had taken her little camera out and hung it around her neck, so he figured she was getting some movies of them as they got closer to the soulstones.
They waited while Duran peered around the corner before slipping back into the shadows beside the three of them. “There's a door up ahead,” he said. “It opens to an elevator that leads to the guards' barracks on the next level. We've been trying to figure out a way to disable the lift to prevent more Gar from coming down should there be a cry for help. They have a fairly sophisticated intercom system built into their uniforms that our energy doesn't affect, so we can't interfere with their transmissions, but the elevator is purely mechanical.”
Now that sounded like something Finn could sink his teeth into. “Does it have an access panel? A place where you can get in to the machinery to repair things?” He dug into his little fanny pack while he questioned Duran. Found the water bottle and realized he was thirsty, so he took a drink before putting it back. There it was. Just what he was looking for.
“I'm not sure,” Duran said. “It's just ahead, but we'll have to be very careful. The entrance to the elevator is close to the station where the soulstones are guarded.”
“Do you two mind waiting here for a couple of minutes?” Finn glanced to his left at Rodie. She shrugged. Morgan shook his head. “Good.” Whispering, Finn said, “Duran, I want you to show me where it is.”
Rodie stayed really still, but she didn't seem at all frightened. Mostly pissed off about the stench, if her hand over her nose meant anything. “What are you going to do?”
It was hard to understand her, whispering through her fingers like that, but Finn grinned and held up his favorite grown-up toyâa Leatherman multitool. It looked like a little pair of needle nose pliers, until he started flipping different tools out of the handles. “Remember the night we all met, and Mac asked about our background? When I said I can fix anything that breaks, I meant it. As long as I have this baby.”
“Well, we certainly don't want you fixing their elevator now, do we?” Morgan's eyes never quit moving as he scanned the hallway in both directions, but there was no missing the typical Morgan Black sarcasm.
Luckily, Finn realized he was immune to it by now. Besides, he'd decided he liked the guy in spite of the bad-boy attitude. “You're right, Morgan. But if I can fix anything, I can also take anything apart.” He winked. Morgan just shook his head. “Duran? You ready?”
Duran gave a quick jerk of his head and then slipped around the corner. Finn followed. This hallway was a little wider than the one they'd just left. The light was brighter, but the stench was, if anything, worse. He wondered if it was the natural body odor of the Gar, or was it the accumulated stink from centuries living in an enclosed system?
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